


It's Not the Fall, it's Hitting the Ground

by hebravelyranaway



Series: Attack of the Unfinished Plot-Bunnies [1]
Category: Thor (2011), Thor (2011) - Canon Divergence, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Thor 2011, Angst, Angst and Humor, Betrayal, Canon Divergence - Thor (2011), Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Fix-It, Gen, He gets better eventually, Identity Issues, Loki Feels, Loki Redemption, Loss of Trust, Norse Bro Feels, Self-Esteem Issues, Sibling Rivalry, The boys have some issues to work through, Thor Feels, Thor Redemption, Thor is one angry puppy at the beginning of this fic, Treason, Trust Issues, and then he's unconscious, but at least they work through them before armies get involved, unlike in canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 08:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8137207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hebravelyranaway/pseuds/hebravelyranaway
Summary: Summary: In which Loki falls to Earth with his brother, and Jane, Darcy, and Erik find two fallen gods in the desert instead of one.
An AU in which Odin listens to Loki instead of growling at him to be silent when he tries to intervene on Thor's behalf after the brothers come back from Jotunheim.  Loki confesses his own part in both provoking his brother into going to Jotunheim and letting the Frost Giants into the vault in the first place in an attempt to shield Thor from some of their father's anger.  Far from saving Thor from the consequences of his actions, Loki's confession just causes their father to banish both of his sons to Earth instead of just one.





	

 As the wind from the strange storm started to die down and the sand began to settle, the ridiculously hot blond man, who had been clipped by their SUV and probably would have been in a lot worse shape if the other guy hadn't pulled him out of the way, began walking towards them, jaw set in determination. Darcy took a few cautious steps back, holding her taser out in front of her just in case.

 

"What Realm is this? Alfheim? Nilfheim?" Mr. Hot-n-crazy asked. Both, _what the hell is a Nilfhem?_ and _, How the hell should I know?_ flashed across her mind as she desperately searched for a way to answer him, but luckily, he appeared to be talking mostly to Erik.

 

"More like Midgard," the younger of the two strange men murmured quietly, his green eyes sharp and focused as he took in both their clothing and Darcy's taser, though his expression and postured were subdued with what, to Darcy, looked like guilt, shock, or a combination of the two.

 

Darcy watched in bewilderment as Hot-n-crazy seemed to get over his own confusion enough to remember the man next to him, and his face twisted with fury. He launched himself at Tall, Dark and Brooding with a shout of rage, and suddenly they were a whirl of flailing fists and tangled limbs. She half expected a cloud of dust and movement pen-marks to form around them like a scene out of Looney Toons.

 

"Traitor!" The larger one growled.

 

Dark and Brooding was somehow able to hold his arms away from him for a moment, fingers digging into his wrists desperately as he struggled against someone who obviously had some significant muscle on him, despite their near equal height.

 

"Thor, stop! Remember what I told you before your—"

 

His explanation was interrupted by a barking, cynical laugh that made him shut his mouth with a clap and even recoil a little bit from the other man.

 

"You always were a talented liar, Brother. If you ever _really_ loved me, you would have had the courage to tell me you didn't think me worthy to my _face!_ How long must you have coveted the throne to grow so incredibly bitter—"

                                                                                                                         

"I have _never_ wanted the throne! I—I admit I _was_ jealous of you, but never of that!"

 

"Then _why_?!"

 

"…Thor, we have more important things to worry about right now! Pay attention to your surroundings, there are mort—people listening—"

 

Thor shook him hard enough to cut his words off again, tears shining in his eyes.

 

"More important things?! What could be more important than you betraying your _family_?! Don't you dare change the subject! Tell me _why_ , you backstabbing—" His brother redirected his punch before he could hit him again, then somehow grabbed hold of his wrists again, holding them away from him in a trembling grip.

 

"You oaf, stop hitting me, it won't help anything, now! I tricked you because you were not ready, and no one would listen to me so I had to act on my own, but that does not mean I think you never will be ready, and I still love you!"

 

"Reminding me of the ties you so casually discarded won't trick me into forgetting what you've done, _Liesmith_. I have no brother. If you ever really thought of me as such, or felt love for mother and father, you would never have brought enemies into our home, enemies that could have _killed_ any one of us!"

                           

'Liesmith' recoiled as if slapped, eyes wide, and loosened his death grip on Thor's wrists, seemingly too shocked to remember—or care—that he was in danger. One of Thor's huge fists drew back to punch him, and Darcy decided she had had enough. There was no way that she was just going to sit back and let the big guy beat his own brother to death, no matter what he'd done, and with all that muscle, he definitely could.

 

Zzzap.

 

Hot-n-crazy got thrown off his brother, then went down lick a sack of potatoes. Everyone stared at Darcy as she lowered her taser, Tall, Dark and Brooding actually going slack-jawed for a moment, looking from his brother to Darcy with astonishment, then something closer to respect. Mouth twisted with bitter resentment and even more bitter grief, he reached out to check his still-unconscious brother's pulse when he stopped convulsing, relaxing a little bit when he evidently found it to be steady.

 

"Darcy!" Jane hissed from beside her.

 

"What? He was freaking me out!"

 

"Well, _yeah_ , but—but, you _tased_ him," her expression slowly going from scandalized to a little impressed.

 

"…So?" she said with supreme indifference. While it sounded like Thor had good reason to be mad at his brother, if there was the least bit of truth to anything he was saying and it wasn't _all_ crazy-talk, the big guy had looked ready to kill him. She wasn't all that sure that he wouldn't have.

 

"Jane, Darcy, we still have some things to clarify," Erik said nervously, looking pointedly back at Liesmith, who was watching the back and forth of their conversation with wary caution. "Who are you?"

 

Liesmith swallowed, stumbling to his feet and nervously brushing dust off of his pants.

 

"My name is Loki. Loki _Olsson_ ," he said at Erik's raised eyebrows. "Yes, I know, our parents were, ah, a little too enthusiastic about their mythology—"

 

"So you both decided to take your roles way too seriously, and pretend to be, what? Banished gods? Or banished royalty, considering…he said something about a throne?"

 

Loki laughed bitterly.

 

" Look, I don't know where the throne thing came from. I was just playing along because I didn't want to confuse Thor more, especially if his mental state was due to being hit by your vehicle, but I do know why he thinks I betrayed him."

 

"Because you did?" Darcy said bluntly.

 

Loki winced, shrinking into himself slightly, again.

 

"I provoked him into acting rashly, let enemies into our home, and got us both disinherited and kicked out of our home with only the clothes on our back. I would say that counts as betraying him."

 

Darcy pursed her lips, giving him a wary look. While she had expected something like that, it was one thing to hear Loki's possibly delusional brother yell about it, and it was another thing to hear an admission from Loki's own lips.

 

"So, can we trust you to not just randomly attack us if we give you a ride back to town? Because that doesn't make me feel very safe in your presence."

 

He looked back up at her, startled.

 

"Of course! I'm not—I don't usually… What happened was a culmination of several unresolved issues between Thor and me," he said, looking uncomfortable. "I don't usually act like that."

 

Darcy felt herself relax marginally. Out of all the things he had told them, that, at least, rang true. He was obviously still lying about other parts of his story, though, which was…concerning. Loki hadn't seemed to think there was anything weird about Thor yelling about thrones when he had first said it, and had even tried to warn Thor not to talk about those things in front of witnesses, despite his claim that Thor had said those things due to a head injury.

 

It _was_ probably in their own self-interests to get these boys to town, however, especially if Loki _did_ end up being dangerous. She doubted any of them could take him physically, and while her taser needed to be recharged, it was kind of useless as a means of self-defense.

 

"Fine, I believe you," she said reluctantly, and not entirely truthfully.

 

He shot her a skeptical look.

 

"Thank you," he said wryly, giving her a self-depreciating smile. "I would be eager to get the crazy people I found out in the middle of the desert back to a populated area, too."

 

"Um...yes, and we should really get your brother to a hospital, now that he's been tased as well as hit by a car," Jane interrupted hesitantly, her voice almost turning up in a question, at the end.

 

Loki shrugged, trying to look unconcerned, but the tightness in his shoulders and the brittle hurt and anger underneath his indifferent expression gave him away. He shoved at his brother with his toe. Thor groaned.

 

"He'll be fine. The big oaf's been through worse."

 

Jane made a skeptical noise. Darcy agreed with her.

 

"He's been through worse than getting caught in a tornado, hit by a car and knocked unconscious by a taser, all in the span of five minutes?" Darcy asked incredulously.

 

"…He has led an interesting life," Loki said, completely deadpan, though she thought she might have seen his mouth twitching a little bit.

 

"…You are so full of shit."

 

Erik sighed.

 

"Well, in any case, we should probably hurry. Who knows what kind of head injury he sustained before you tased him, Darcy? Oh, but we should probably introduce ourselves, as well. I'm Doctor Erik Selvig, and this is Doctor Jane Foster and her intern Darcy Lewis."

 

"Hey." "Hi."

 

They waved.

 

"Okay, can you get him in the SUV?" Jane said, taking charge. "I know you're injured, but none of us are really…quite strong enough to carry your brother, I don't think. One of us can take his feet, if you want…"

 

He waved them off.

 

"No need."

 

"Oh. Okay. There might not be enough room for everyone in front, but if not, you can sit with the equipment, okay? Since your brother's unconscious, he should probably be strapped in."

 

Loki nodded.

 

"I agree," he said, then somehow hauled his huge brother into the car without even getting out-of- breath, though he did 'accidently' knock Thor's feet and shoulders into the car door while he was putting him in the vehicle. Okay, evidently still angry, then.

 

"Come to think of it, you should probably get that eye checked out when we get to the hospital. It's starting to look pretty bad."

 

Sometime during the fight, Thor had gotten him in the eye, and it was now so puffed up now that it was almost swollen shut.

 

Loki touched his finger to his eyelid, and winced.

 

"It will heal. I have had worse," he said tightly as he settled himself into the back seat, evidently embarrassed enough about something as normal as feeling pain that he had decided to pretend it wasn't hurting him. Ugh. Men and their pride.

 

"Yeah, well, no point in losing an eye just because you were trying to be a tough guy. You could at least ask for some ice when we get there, to help get the swelling down."

 

"…I suppose that couldn't hurt," he said grudgingly, looking both annoyed and relieved at her stubbornness at once, as if he was only comfortable accepting medical attention if someone forced it on him. And, yeah, that was a little messed up.

 

Well, if the guy was a dunce at taking care of himself, it was hardly like he was the only one that she knew that was that way, and there was no reason she couldn't add him to her 'caring for Jane' rotation, for as long as he was with them. How someone as smart as Jane could regularly forget to feed herself, she didn't know.

 

When they got to the hospital, she was somehow able to get him to agree to see a doctor, and the doctor (gently) bullied him into accepting ice, topical anti-swelling cream, pain relievers and antibiotics to treat his injuries.

 

Loki was already done being treated and sitting in the waiting room with them with an ice pack over his eye by the time the commotion started. Though he was still depressed and subdued, and had been mostly silent on the way back to town, he was startled into laughter when they heard an angry bellow (something about 'how dare you attack the son of Odin?'), and a loud thump from Thor's room. Not that she blamed him for the schadenfreude. Thor's stunned face, comically smashed up against the pane of a window as he slid to the ground unconscious, was positively priceless.

 

"You think we should go get him?" Jane asked hesitantly.

 

"No, he's going to be out for awhile if they drugged him, but someone should probably be with him when he wakes up so he doesn't freak out again. Why don't you and Erik go sit in his room, while I keep Loki company?"

 

"Are you sure you'll be fine, Darcy?" Erik said, shooting a not-so-subtle glance at Loki, who had just discarded his icepack on a table and was massaging his numb hand to get the feeling back in it, staring at it with confusion. What, hadn't he ever held onto an ice pack too long before, or gone outside without gloves in the winter? She wondered just what about getting a little too cold confused him.

 

Darcy sighed. Ah, what the hell. It sounded like the guy could be dangerous (by his own account, even), and he was acting a little weird right now, but she didn't think he was a danger to _her_. Besides, they were around other people now, right? What's the worst that could happen?

 

"Nah, don't worry about it, I'll be okay. This one's not the one who seems to solve all his problems with his fists. Jane's more likely to need the back-up than I am."

 

"Thor would never attack a lady," Loki protested, looking scandalized. Okay, so evidently there were some old-fashioned ideas about chivalry in their family. Good to know. Maybe she _wouldn't_ have to worry about protecting herself if Thor started directing his crazy at her.

 

"Sure, but still, he seems pretty confused, right now. Better safe than sorry."

 

After a moment, he nodded.

 

"As you say."

 

With that, Jane and Erik left to sit in Thor's room to wait for him to wake up.

 

"So, I bet that's going to be good blackmail material."

 

"What?"

 

"The whole face smashed against the glass thing."

 

Loki's answering grin was positively wicked.

 

"I like the way you think, Darcy."

 

That flash of amusement didn't last for long, though, and his shoulders slumped again, the tightness around his eyes, his unconvincing smile, and his ruthlessly even breathing cluing her into the fact that he was probably trying not to fall apart.

 

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

 

"Why shouldn't I be?" he said flippantly.

 

"You just got kicked out of your home, and now your brother, the only person you had left, wants nothing to do with you."

 

He sent her a poisonous glare, then looked away with a sigh.

 

"He is never going to forgive me," he said bluntly.

 

"…Why did you betray him?"

 

"I…no one would believe me that he wasn't ready to take over the family business. We run…a security company, and so everything that we do affects the lives of others. And Thor is ever so reckless. He would have gotten us all killed. He almost _did_ get us all killed, and it's not the first time he's done something like that. It's just the first time that the consequences were…something my father couldn't ignore."

 

"Your dad was able to ignore your brother almost getting you _killed_ before?"

 

"He is very good at turning a blind eye when it comes to his oldest son," he said, his face twisted in bitterness.

 

"…Thor seems to think that you did it because you were envious of him."

 

"That's what they all think. That I'm—jealous. Which is why nobody listened to me when I said he wasn’t ready, and I was forced to act covertly to get my point across. I provoked Thor into making rash decisions right before Father would have signed over the company to him. I thought it would just result in a delay of his inheritance, and that no one would get hurt, but things got out of hand."

 

She gaped at him.

 

"Are you implying…did people _die_?"

 

He winced.

 

"No. But lives were put in danger because of our actions. Father was right to disown us. I imagine he will have to forgive one of us eventually if he wants someone in the family to inherit his company, though. I hardly think that _Thor_ will be here for very long, no matter that he deserves this just as much as I," he said bitterly.

 

Okay, so there definitely _was_ more than a little jealousy, there. Loki's enemies were right about that, even if he wasn't all that self-aware about it, or about how such open jealousy would influence the way people interpreted his actions.

 

"So did your dad…pass you up for inheritance, or something?"

 

"Yes. And yes, I know how it looks, but that is _not_ why I did it."

 

_Are you sure?_ she felt like asking. Not that she thought he was lying about his other motives, but she did suspect that envy was at least part of it, and if he had almost gotten people killed, then he needed to be more self-aware about why he did it or no one would ever be able to trust him again. Maybe she didn't need to tell him that right now, though. Judging from the dark circles under his eyes, his defensive posture, and the way he was trying not to cry, she didn't think he would react well to being pushed.

 

"Okay."

 

He turned startled, questioning eyes on her.

 

" _Okay_?" he said, like he had expected her to just automatically believe the absolute worst of him.

 

"Do you want something from the snack machine? You look like you could use some chocolate," she said calmly.

 

"What? Oh—okay. Thank you," he said, looking startled by the offer, as if people very rarely volunteered to do something nice for him. Darcy felt the beginnings of both pity and frustration, wondering if the jealousy/self-worth issues were all in his head, or if there were real circumstances that had made his expectations of people so skewed.

 

"What do you want?"

 

"I…surprise me. Anything sweet."

 

"Do you like chocolate?"

 

Loki smiled slightly, a small, but real, genuine smile that she hadn't seen from him yet.

 

"I _love_ chocolate."

 

"Right. Then I'll be right back with the sweetest, chocolaty-ist thing I can find," she assured him, and headed to the nearest vending machine to complete her new mission.

 

A minute later, when she handed him the packaged brownie, he eyed it curiously as if he didn't quite know what it was, then carefully unwrapped it and took a bite. His eyes widened in astonishment when he started chewing, and he made an entirely indecent sound of enjoyment.

 

"These tiny cakes are delicious," he said once he was finished devouring the entire brownie, all the crumbs inside the package, and the all the sticky little pieces of chocolate that had stuck to his fingers.

 

"You've never had a _brownie_ before?"

 

He froze, and then gave her an embarrassed, chocolatey smile.

 

"Our parents wouldn’t' let us eat sweets when we were little, which is why I indulge as often as possible now, but I still occasionally find out about relatively common deserts that everybody else seems to know about except me. I assume, by your reaction, that I should have known what a brownie is?"

 

Okay, even if he had never been allowed to have one, it was still incredibly unlikely that he had never even heard of one, before. Where had this guy been raised? In a cave? Chalk one more up to the weird-o-meter.

 

"Dude, how could you have survived this long without knowing?"

 

He looked back down at the empty package in his hands, a wistful expression on his face.

 

"I have no idea."

 

"You have a little…" she made a gesture at the corner of his mouth. "…right there."

 

His eyebrows shot up in astonishment.

 

"I got chocolate on my face?"

 

"Like a six year old at a birthday party, man. Here." She handed him a Kleenex. He took it from her, and started wiping off his mouth, his cheeks going slightly pink with embarrassment.

 

"…Thank you."

 

She grinned.

 

"No problem."

 

Some of the tension drained from his shoulders, and the atmosphere became more relaxed as if some invisible barrier had fallen between them. Suddenly, he gave a huge yawn, and preceded to look even more embarrassed.

 

"I hope you do not mind being deprived of my company, but I think I might close my eyes for awhile while we wait for Thor to reawaken. It has come to my attention that I am…completely exhausted. I do not know how I didn't notice it before now."

 

"Hey, you've had a rough day, completely understandable. Close your eyes for however long you want. I can entertain myself."

 

"Thank you."

 

He gave her a small smile, and began to attempt to get comfortable. After trying and failing to curl his long limbs up in the uncomfortable waiting room chair, he sighed and put his feet back on the ground, slumping down a bit and leaning his head back against the wall before he closed his eyes. Further tension drained from his frame as he fell into a light doze within the first minute, and she thought, but wasn't sure, that some more color might have returned to his cheeks. For the first time since she had met him, she found herself thinking that he might eventually be okay.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Loki, Thor, Jane, Darcy and Erik do not belong to me, but to Marvel and Disney. No copyright infringement is intended, and I am not making any money off of this story.


End file.
